Brain Scan Study Reveals How Ketamine Produces Antidepressant Effects

Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com) presented details from a study published in Molecular Psychiatry on March 5, 2026.

From the article: "Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a major global health problem and one of the leading causes of disability. About 30% of people diagnosed with depression develop treatment-resistant depression (TRD), meaning their symptoms do not improve sufficiently with standard antidepressant medications. Ketamine has gained attention as a fast-acting antidepressant for people with TRD. However, scientists have not fully understood how it works inside the human brain, which has made it difficult to refine and personalize this treatment...Ketamine's antidepressant effect in patients with TRD is mediated by dynamic changes in AMPAR in the living human brain," Prof. Takahashi explained. "Using a novel PET tracer, [¹¹C]K-2, we were able to visualize how ketamine alters AMPAR distribution across specific brain regions and how these changes correlate with improvements in depressive symptoms"."

Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260307213234.htm